Comatose
by amelieelizabet
Summary: Working at the San Fran General Hospital has few perks; free coffee, respect, and a mysterious comatose woman. But when she wakes up, will Doctor Leonard McCoy feel the same? Has Jaime Kirk changed the miserable man's demeanour permanently? Fem!Jim, McKirk
1. Prologue - A Sticky Situation

He wasn't supposed to have favourite patients as a doctor; he was supposed to keep the hypocratic oath and provide bedside manner, but never get too involved. His job was too high maintenance for that. It was what his residency had drilled into him at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, but here he was, a real, qualified doctor at the San Francisco General, with a favourite patient.

But, Doctor Leonard McCoy mused as he strolled through the halls, because the woman had never been treated by him, and had certainly never done anything to be awarded special consideration, was it really so terrible that he had taken a liking to this enigmatic patient? She had been at the hospital for little over a year; long enough for McCoy to decide that he was fond of her, regardless of his propriety or her illness.

"Doctor McCoy?" Ah, there was her nurse. Nurse Montgomery Scott was one of the kindest men in the hospital and had, despite McCoy's miserable demeanour and coarse outlook on life, become a friend to the doctor, not to mention an ally in relation to his priority patient. There were often disputes on the board as to whether the woman should be kept in the hospital, and only a few doctors and nurses stood up for their patient to tip the majority vote, led by McCoy and Scott. The staff who voted in favour of retaining her tended to be people who had interacted with her, had experienced the aura of charisma she exuded.

"Nurse Scott, how may I help you this morning? Is there anything I should know?" The same question was asked every day as the tall, striking doctor made his way to check on the petite woman before starting his rounds.

"No real change, sir. And for the love of god, it's Scotty! You know that by now." The perpetually grumbling yet oddly friendly Scotsman chided, hurrying to keep up with the New Yorker's brisk strides. He had been late this morning, and he evidently didn't want to lose time with their mysterious patient.

"No _real_ change, Scotty?" As the words registered in McCoy's head, he almost stopped. "You never say no _real_ change. Tell me more; anything is gold dust in this case. Don't leave a single detail out, god damnit man! I'm a doctor, not a psychic!"

"There was a flicker of activity on the neural scanner. It wasn't too big, and I wouldn't have caught it if I hadn't been changing the IV line, but it was there. Here," Scotty handed his friend the chart, knowing that the doctor was more than capable of deciding their course of action, and trusted the man's judgement implicitly.

"Get a team together, Scotty, we need the best this hospital has to offer. I want Pike, Spock, Uhura, I want everyone who ever voted to keep her here and then some. We're going in." Doctor McCoy smiled at the chart, finally able to present evidence to the board that the operation would prove successful, and it would; he had succeeded in getting the surgeon responsible for his woman's condition fired, and would be present himself to ensure no further harm befell his ward. There was a skip in his step as he turned into the patient's private room.

"Aye, sir," Scotty nodded from the doorway, leaving McCoy with their patient, grinning to himself and pulling out his pager. Maybe this would be the one operation she needed; maybe they could actually help her.

"Miss Kirk," McCoy whispered, taking her tiny hand and staring down at the woman on the bed. "Perhaps someday soon, we can have a proper conversation. I'm rather tired of my own voice." Leonard settled back in what had become 'his' chair, pulling the newspaper from his briefcase and opening it, ready to read. He had reckoned with himself when he first came into her room all those months ago that regardless of her comatose state, Jaime Kirk should be kept up to date with the news like the rest of the world, and so every day he did so. He took a break from the political news to gaze at her fondly, the woman he knew nothing about, but about whom he wished to know infinitely more.

* * *

A/N: Hey there! I know it's been a while, and I'm so sorry about that. I've had one hell of a year, finishing school, a bunch of exams, joining the political world, turning eighteen... it's been a blast. Now, although I'm starting an internship, I have more time on my hands, and this little plot bunny sprung into my head. I have a number of others planned too, but more than that; I aim to finish my other fics. I'm sorry I haven't done so sooner.

What I found last year was that, although I love writing, I wasn't motivated to update. My mind stagnated. So I would like to ask if you would please review and critique my work. Thanks, _Amelie x_


	2. Chapter 2 - A bit much for a Doctor

If Leonard McCoy was told _one more time_ that he wasn't allowed on the surgical team, he would attack someone. He had to be on that team; he had to be in there with Jaime Kirk.

"You're emotionally attached to her, Doctor, and it could put her in more danger than she will be anyway." Chief Neurosurgeon Doctor Christopher Pike tried to reassure his colleague, but it wasn't any good. "We are doing a skeletal team for this op, Leonard. We don't need the cardiothoracic in with us. What I need you to do is to try and find any family she may have again, in case she wakes up. I'll take Scotty in with me if it will make you feel better. _You _picked the team, Leonard; you know that we stand the best chance of pulling her through, and we won't let anything more happen to her." Pike sighed and looked down. "If I had known that Doctor Nero was partaking in substance abuse he would have been fired before he set foot in the hospital. I cannot tell you how much I regret the damage he did to Miss Kirk's brain. It was supposed to be a routine tumour removal, which has now come to this." He looked up at the roughened New York surgeon and knew that inside, he was about to break, his fear and concern for the patient almost wrecking his calmer demeanour. "With the new technology we've acquired Miss Kirk has a 70% chance of making it through the surgery with her neural capacities restored. We've pulled people back from worse, you know. Now; go and pester someone else while I round up Doctors Uhura and Greyson. I know Spock wants to be there, as he was the surgical intern at the time of her accident. He may feel more responsible for her than you do, Leonard." With that, Christopher Pike turned to leave.

"Thanks, Christopher," Doctor McCoy called gruffly down the bustling corridor, before making his way to the nurses' station to pester someone into finding Kirk's family. Perhaps he would even do his rounds, and check on his interns. It always paid well to do your job, after all.

This operation, he mused, could go very badly, very well, or catastrophically. There was the risk of Kirk dying on the table, one he didn't want to consider. He would never know the colour of her eyes in the sunlight, or the way they crinkled when she laughed. He maybe would get to find out if it went well, and she pulled through and woke up. Then, there was the catastrophic outcome; she could pull through, be afraid of the creepy doctor who visited her every day, angry that her (possibly extensive) family wasn't there, she was most likely married or in a serious relationship (just look at her) and hate Leonard full stop. Yes, that would be catastrophic. Not only had he invested a year of his career in her well-being, but Doctor McCoy had been so wrapped up in the progress and hope of Jaime Kirk that he had… forgotten to date. He had been out of the dating game since his last girlfriend, Carol, had broken things off with a claim that 'if he was so attached to Kirk, why didn't he just date the coma patient?' It hadn't gone well, to say the least.

But, in retrospect, perhaps he had become more invested with Ms Kirk than he had originally intended. He'd spent a year by her side after accidentally walking into her hospital room one day. He was immediately drawn to the flaxen hair with hints of auburn, the hint of a dimple on her left cheek, the way her fingers curled in slightly, even in sleep. There were scars on her arms that told him she hadn't led an easy life, but they didn't indicate abuse or neglect. He wanted to know why she didn't have family or friends with her when she was admitted, and why she didn't tell anyone anything that couldn't be gleaned from her chart.

Yes. He was emotionally attached to the patient. It was for the best that he stay away.

* * *

It had been three hours since they went into surgery and it was safe to say that Doctor McCoy was as close as he would ever be to bursting into the operating theatre and demanding that they all hurry up. It was too long for him to survive on caffeine, hope and agitation, and he found himself making his way to Ms Kirk's room, sitting in his chair and trying to forget the fact that there was a 30% chance she wouldn't pull through. He definitely wanted to punch something.

* * *

The next he heard was at the five and a half hour mark. Scotty was running towards him, his scrubs bloody, panicked. He was on his feet in seconds, unwilling to assume anything without knowing the facts.

"Doctor McCoy, we had a scare in there. She lost a lot of blood when we nicked a vein but the good news is, we think that blood retention contributed to the coma, so now there's more of a chance she'll wake up. We need blood, though, and she's O negative, but we can't put her on the donor list." Already Leonard knew what was going to be asked; he, too, was O-.

"I'll do it. Take me in, do whatever you have to, just keep her alive, god dammit." Leonard strode through the halls, not stopping to greet anyone as he usually would, instead almost flat out sprinting. He couldn't imagine how difficult it was for Scotty, in his bloody scrubs and slippery shoe covers, to keep up. He was soon in the prep room, washing up, 'scrubbing in', ready to donate his blood. It was ridiculous, really, how panicked he was about the girl. In the operating theatre, he sat on the bed opposite Kirk's.

"Now, Doctor McCoy; we have to take quite a bit of blood, because of the amount she lost. You'll be fine, you're a huge guy, but maybe take it easy for the next couple of days." Pike looked thoughtful. "I won't ban you from the hospital; it would be cruel to do so. I do want you to stay mindful of visitor hours, and make sure you don't neglect your own health in order to monitor hers. Hold still." Leonard McCoy had never fainted before.

He looked at his ward, at her peaceful, pale face, and then the world went black.

* * *

A/N: Well? What did you think? I have to say, I wish Kirk would bloody well hurry up and wake up; calling McCoy Bones will be so much easier than the other variations! I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this, I mean... it's a bit different to the usual, and obviously is completely AU. I haven't decided whether it's going to be set in the same time or modern-day-AU, but the details aren't quite needed yet. When they step outside of the hospital, that'll be when you know.

Please review, I'd love to see whether people like where I'm going with this. _Amelie x_


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